Advocacy group AARP is working with Google to help target politically active users on YouTube this election season, to help drive discussion about presidential candidates’ plans for social security.

AARP, a nonprofit that says its mission is to help people age 50 and older improve the quality of their lives, is the first advertiser to sign up for a new political sponsorship package offered by Google that gives advertisers first access to premium video inventory related to politics. AARP’s deal with Google and YouTube began in January for ads to run during the primary season.

“The political debate over candidates and issues is taking place online today at a much greater degree than it was four or eight years ago,” said Charles Scrase, Google’s industry director for government and advocacy. As a result, there is a “high demand” for advertisers to have their messages reach individuals in places online that they are turning to for information about the election, he said.

As part of the sponsorship, AARP is running pre-roll video ads on election-related content on YouTube, including videos from creators such as Vlogbrothers and The Young Turks and primary debates and news coverage on the YouTube channels of news outlets like Fox News, CNN, Huffington Post and Mashable. The package also included programmatic media buys for AARP’s ads to appear on the websites of premium publishers such as the
New York Times
and Fox News.

This is the first time that Google is bundling election-related premium inventory for advertisers; previously, clients looking to advertise around the election had to search for and identify the content they would want to target and execute the buy as they would normally on YouTube. Mr. Scrase said the inventory has been “curated to ensure you’re reaching an actively engaged audience that’s part of the political discussion.”

The objective of AARP’s “Take a Stand” campaign, launched in November, is to “get social security into the political conversation with the ultimate goal of the new Congress and new president dealing with the issue moving forward,” said John Hishta, senior vice president of campaigns for AARP. The group worked with agency GMMB on its campaign.

AARP aims to engage with “modern political influencers”—the most active individuals involved in the political process ranging from AARP members in key primary states to campaign volunteers and party officials—to press presidential candidates to lay out their specific plans for social security. A core component of AARP’s sponsorship package was the ability to run display and video ads on mobile, desktop and tablets at relevant moments during the GOP and Democratic presidential debates, complementing AARP’s TV advertising.

One in four adults in the U.S. have watched news and political content on YouTube, according to a Google Consumer Survey conducted in September.

Beyond primary season, Google will also offer a general election political sponsorship package. AARP’s partnership with Google will “continue to evolve throughout the entire election cycle,” Mr. Hishta said. “We intend to continue the partnership with them and probably beyond this election year.”

Mr. Hishta said AARP is spending “several millions of dollars” for its “Take a Stand” campaign. Digital media accounts for about 40% of the campaign’s overall media spend to date, he added. About 45% of those digital media buys are spent with Google, including spending on YouTube, search, Google Display Network and the DoubleClick Bid Manager buying platform.

Google declined to provide financial details on the political sponsorship package, but noted the sponsorship is separate from other campaigns an advertiser might be running on YouTube or across Google. “We have a number of different discussions in process” with other advertisers about the political sponsorship package, Mr. Scrase said.

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